Screening Newborns for Congenital Heart Disease

By Amy Dockser Marcus, The Wall Street Journal

Last September, an HHS advisory committee recommended that all newborns be screened for critical congenital heart disease — a leading cause of death in infants younger than one year of age. The head of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, hasn’t yet adopted the recommendation, requesting input on how to actually implement screening.

Now a separate working group convened by the HHS advisory committee — with members including pediatric cardiologists, nurses, and public-health officials — has weighed in with its own suggestions for how to screen newborns. Their ideas are published online today in Pediatrics.